Neither Debarre nor End Waking had visited Michelle's field in decades, and certainly not since it became Douglas's. End Waking had last seen it on the day that she had quit in 2306, and had had little reason to return since.
It had been much longer for Debarre, going clear back into the 2200s, back when Michelle and Sasha were still alive and coherent enough to speak to without getting overwhelmed into silence every few minutes. The memories of her were painful enough as it was --- that last visit with her in End Waking's forest especially --- that he'd never had the courage to come back.
Given how much the clade that she'd left behind was struggling, though, it felt fitting to accept when Douglas invited him and End Waking over to talk with Ioan.
"Ey's in a funk, and from what ey says, I think you two are the only others that know why," he had said, paused, then added, "Except maybe those I don't think any of us want to see."
Both of them stood still after arriving, just bathing in --- or struggling against --- the waves of memory that came with the sudden onslaught of warmth and sun and the baked goods scent of dandelions thick in the air.
As soon as they'd finished their greetings and settled on the grass in front of the house (End Waking having refused to go inside) along with Douglas, though, ey had mostly stared down into eir glass of lemonade and spoke little.
Finally, Debarre nudged em gently with an elbow. "Alright, Ioan, you're gonna need to spill it at some point, here. What's going on? All we were told is that you were feeling rough about the last few days.
Ey sighed and plucked at a dandelion. "Right, sorry, you two. Or three, I guess. I know I've been a bit of a mope of late. You alright to talk about True Name?"
"Ioan, I appreciate you asking, but please do not worry about us," End Waking chided. "If we have come to help *you*, you need not spare our feelings. We can pretty well guess who would be at the center of this."
"I'm pretty sure it's me, actually," ey said, laughing tiredly. "I've been stuck between May and True Name for days now, or years if you count the time since the convergence and I started trying to smooth things out with the coffee dates.
"I've just been struggling with it all. It's been too much from the moment everything with True Name happened. The last few days were the worst, though. True Name didn't really handle the merge all that well. She collapsed and was nearly unresponsive for several hours, and since then, she's been struggling to integrate various chunks of memories."
"I hope that she does not mind the memories of sex to go along with the resentment," End Waking said, then laughed when Debarre poked him in the side. "We are all adults here, my dear."
The skunk grinned. "So young! Debarre and I both have two centuries on you. Still, I am pretty sure that we can acknowledge the existence of sex, is what I mean."
"Yeah. I wasn't expecting her to get completely taken out, but May did kind of force it on her all in one go. She lasted a few days, but I think she was maybe pushing herself pretty hard to appear strong. She crashed really hard yesterday and, despite a pretty pleasant morning, had to step out to Arrowhead Lake, and when she came back, she looked like she was about ready to start yelling at us. May was also trying to stick around as long as she could, I think, since she crashed almost immediately. We made it through the night, but she couldn't even speak this morning."
Ey nodded. "Friend almost gets assassinated, almost goes crazy from a merge, and disappears. Partner freaks out after a conversation, then freaks out when the merge goes sideways and mentions she was thinking of merging down, herself, then requests that I disappear. It's just...a lot."
"Wait, *May* wanted to merge down?" Douglas said. "Wasn't expecting that."
"Well, I don't know quite how much 'wanted' fits, but I asked if she was thinking about it and she said yes. I couldn't quite piece together why, though. After End Waking merged down, she mentioned that there was at least a part of her that was feeling vengeful, so I think I was worried that maybe she was considering piling on her own vengeance, or that maybe she would be trying to help make her a better person." Ey shrugged and added, "Or both. She did seem to have True Name's best interests at heart when she forced the merge. At least mostly."
"And how're you taking it?" Debarre asked. Something about Ioan --- eir posture, eir face, something --- made it seem like this was the question ey was dreading the most.
There was a long silence before Ioan answered. "It's really getting to me. I don't even know why, either. I think it honestly would help True Name in the end if it were just May merging down, but having that be the case with her memories of us together feels like...well, it kind of makes me jealous. Those are our memories that we made together. Our fights and good times, our affection--"
"Yeah. Our affection and our sex, too, for that matter. Suddenly, True Name has all that. I think it also started grating on me because of how real End Waking's was. It wouldn't just be a library for her perusal, but she will have actually lived them. She will have actually--" Ey frowned, as though digging for the words.
"I was pulling back when she and Zacharias were getting close," End Waking said, sounding thoughtful. "And I have been her. We were both Michelle. I know that she is capable of experiencing romantic feelings. They will not be alien to her."
End Waking pushed him over onto the ground. "If you imply that I do not have romantic feelings for you again, I will make you hunt our meals for a week."
"What I am saying, though, is that it will not be alien to her. She will have experienced love for others, and the loss of that love. She will have experienced love for others through another's memories and experiences, even. You can trust her to integrate that, I believe."
"Even though she was struggling with integrating those memories of yours?"
"Perhaps especially so. I think that she is struggling because it clashes with her personality, not that she feels that she might love Debarre. Though, my dear," he said, nodding to Debarre. "I can guarantee that just about every Odist is at least a little in love with you."
More than one of them had confessed such to him over the centuries, and it wasn't until he'd actually conceded that something about End Waking landed in that sweet spot of attraction and personality match enough to at least try dating that they'd stopped. He was thankful that they seemed happy enough to live vicariously through him. He had liked Sasha and Michelle, loved her in that sympatico that true friends can share, friends who had shared trauma, but any more felt pretty far out of his league as a gay man.
Instead, he nudged Ioan with his elbow again. "So if you don't need to worry about it from True Name's side, and you know you're worrying about it from your own side, how do you feel about it from May's point of view?"
"Not much. She said she'd been considering it, but that seeing how the current merge was making her struggle had her in doubt. I told her I want to make sure it'd be consensual on everyone's behalf, this time. I guess--"
"They talked a few times in a cone of silence, so maybe then, but otherwise not that I saw. She just stopped True Name in the middle of ranting and sent End Waking a message to merge, far as I could tell."
"That's kind of shitty."
Ey shrugged. "I suppose, but no need to pile on her or anything, I think she's beating herself up over it worse than any of us could do."
Douglas nodded. "Well, that bit I believe. Think that contributed to her overflowing?"
"Almost certainly, yeah. Correct me if I'm wrong, End Waking, but while I don't think it's solely tied to external events, they can have an effect on it."
The skunk nodded. He'd started panting in the heat of the sun, so it took him a moment to reply. "It just comes over us like a wave. Some of us more quickly than others. It is slower in onset for me than for either of them, I believe."
Debarre chimed in. "I usually have a few days warning. I've gotten mine already and was planning on heading out today, but we both wanted to come, anyway."
"Is it hard for you?"
End Waking held up a paw. "I want to respect Debarre's decision to share or not, but I would prefer not to be here for this conversation."
"Sorry, End Waking. You don't need to answer, Debarre."
The weasel shrugged. "No, it's fine. E.W. and I have talked about it, and I get where he's coming from. It can wait."
"Yes. You are not disallowed. We simply have our own, separate conversations about that, and it is important to me that Debarre feel comfortable talking about me with his friends, too. I cannot be the only one in his life."
"Alright, makes sense. May's said similar, for that matter." Ey toyed with the flower ey'd plucked before, saying, "We actually talked about other relationships shortly before this all went down, about how she'd act if she started to fall for someone else and how she'd feel if I did. One thing we didn't talk about was someone else having feelings for either of us, whether or not they'd come about them on their own or through a merger."
"I'm sure there's shitloads of people in love with May Then My Name," Debarre said, laughing. "But she's good at having that conversation, and you're both good at talking, so."
"Too good, perhaps." End Waking stood. "I am overheating and feeling restless, so I am going to return to the forest. Ioan, I do wish you the best, and I would like you to keep in touch as you are able. I am concerned about your partner, as well as for True Name, in my own way. Please keep yourself safe so that you can keep the both of them safe in turn."
